SBI Articles: September 6th

“Desmond had testified with “absolute certainty” in a Pitt County case that two bullets were fired from the same make and model of gun.

The former chief metallurgist for the FBI, who reviewed photographs of the two bullets, questioned whether Desmond had done any analysis. “This is as bad as it can be,” William Tobin said in the article. “It raises the question of whether she did an analysis at all.”

Holmes went further.

“She is putting false information in the courts,” he said. “She lacks the credentials and training to do her job.”

“For years, the State Bureau of Investigation has found a warm welcome and generous checkbook at the legislature, getting a new lab in Greensboro, dozens of new agent positions to investigate meth labs and child porn, more lab analysts, and money to process DNA and firearms evidence.

Next year will be different. Recent revelations about the bureau have legislative leaders ready to force big changes when they next go into session in January.

“The SBI is supposed to do good work and be fair, neutral and truthful,” said state Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, a Chapel Hill Democrat who oversees the criminal justice budget. “It doesn’t look like we got what we paid for.”